Order of Vespers (The Vespers Chronicles Book 1) by Matilda Reyes – Review by Ayla Phipps

Order of Vespers by Matilda Reyes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the second book I have read by Matilda Reyes, and I fall more in love with her work with every new book and every page. First reading the synopsis for Order of Vespers I became excited about the story and how it tied into the cover. Jasper Andrews better known as Jas is an 18-year-old girl in upstate New York. She used to have it all she was homecoming queen, an honor student, former cheerleader, pretty and athletic, as described by police. So, what happened.
Jas wakes up in the hallway of her high school, a nasty giant bump on her head that she calls “Boom” and scorch marks covering the floor and walls. Being questioned she maintains her innocence as all she remembers was walking out of the cafeteria and then the hot fireman waking her up. Her older sister a rising lawyer Olivia comes to down to defend her sister and take her home. Only things quickly go from bad to worse. Her mother is being uncharacteristically affectionate, almost like she is saying goodbye and then at supper with only her parents the bomb is dropped. For the safety of the family and herself she is being sent away. The Andrews family has one rule “keep the family abilities a secret” or else they will find them. Growing up Jas’s mother Delia told her and her siblings about a group that hunts down those with abilities and removing them as a threat to humanity. It’s not until her mother tells her that she has family with connections to another group that can hide her and keep her safe that she suddenly starts to believe in her mothers’ stories about boogiemen. Before Jas has a chance to leave tragedy strikes in the worse way returning from a walk Jas witnesses her family home exploding, her family still inside. Once again, an explosion and Jas is the only witness around and is automatically assumed to be guilty by all. She has no choice but to flee to Manhattan and hope that the animosity of the big city can help her disappear.
Who would want her family dead? What keeps happening and why can’t she control it? Will her inner primitive self be enough to save her? The author has a way with building a world that you can see yourself in. Characters that you can not only hear their voice in your head but feel their overwhelming pain. I can’t wait for book two in The Vespers Chronicles, The Circle to come out on May 24th, 2023, to learn more about Jasper’s story.

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